Cross My Heart and Hope to Die
by FoxTrotEchoJuliette
Summary: Jack Frost is responsible for bringing about winter every year. While bringing winter to Berk, a small Viking village at the edge of the known world, Jack meets a fierce and beautiful girl named Astrid. The village begins to accept Jack as one of their own, until they discover that he's not who they think he is. Jastrid. Slightly OOC.
1. Chapter 1: Winter comes to Berk

**Jack Frost is responsible for bringing about winter every year. While bringing winter to Berk, a small Viking village at the edge of the known world, Jack meets a fierce and beautiful girl named Astrid. The village begins to accept Jack as one of their own, until they discover that he's not who they think he is. Jastrid. Slightly OOC. Takes place in the Viking Era.**

**Ch. 1: Winter Comes to Berk**

Jack never did like the village of Berk. Not only was the weather rotten, but there were always dragons everywhere! Jack hated dragons with a passion. It isn't much of a surprise that the Spirit of Winter doesn't get along very well with a beast that breathes fire. Since the dragons gave Jack such a hard time getting into Berk, he always gave them an extra long, extra frosty winter, just out of spite. Needless to say, the villagers did not appreciate it. Not that Jack really cared. Anybody who spends all their time with dragons is obviously not right in the head.

It was early September, which meant it was time for another long, annoying trip to Berk. Oh joy.

"I'm heading out!" Jack shouted to the other guardians, who had met up at North's place.

"Not even going to say goodbye?" pouted Tooth. She had this strange attraction to him. He suspected that it had a lot to do with her strange fetish for nice teeth.

"You'll see me again in a week at the most, Tooth. It's not like I'll be gone for forever."

"You never know, those dragons can be pretty feisty," she teased.

"I can take a dragon anytime. Don't you worry," Jack said before taking off.

**...**

The trip to Berk was going by uneventfully, except for a mild scrape with a nest of giant buzzards. Jack was just starting to think he'd make it without any trouble, until he heard the telltale sound of dragon wings coming from behind him.

"Great, just what I need," he grumbled, turning to face the beast. It was a Deadly Nadder, one of the nastier species of dragons. It had a giant horn coming out of its nose, with spikes everywhere and leathery bat wings. It didn't seem thrilled to see Jack, either.

Jack flew away as fast as he could, shooting bolts of ice out of the end of his staff as he went. It didn't even seem to faze the Nadder, who simply melted each bolt with a breath of fire, singeing the tips of Jack's bare toes in the process. This startled Jack enough to cause him to lose his balance and fall a few meters in the air.

"Hey!" He shouted, shooting a bigger blast of ice at the dragon. The blast barely missed the dragon, but hit something else, something on the dragons back. Then Jack realized that he wasn't just going against a dragon—there was somebody riding it. And that somebody was frozen and falling to their death.

Jack snapped out of his surprised shock and shot down towards the ground, trying to catch the rider before it was too late. Jack may not have liked dragons, but he had no reason to kill a human.

Even though he was flying as fast as he could toward the earth, he barely caught the person before hitting the ground, hard. Looking closer, Jack saw that it was a girl, and a pretty one at that. She had big blue eyes and light blonde hair in a long braid down her back, and bangs that covered part of her face. She was freezing cold, even though the rapid fall had caused most of the ice to melt off of her. Not knowing what else to do, Jack took off his thick blue cloak and wrapped it around her, holding her close to him. The Man in Moon would most likely not be happy with him if he gave a human hypothermia, accident or not.

They sat like that for what felt like hours, while Jack waited for the girl to wake up.

_What is she doing here, _Jack wondered to himself. _We're over a hundred miles away from Berk!_

Jack was just beginning to doze off as the sun was setting. He was brought out of his half-slumber when he heard the girl start to wake up.

"Are you alright?!"

The girl's eyes shot open quickly, and she jumped up and away from him.

"Who are you? Where is Stormfly? What did you do to me?!"

"Stormfly? You mean that beast that tried to kill me? You have a name for it? Geez, you villagers are crazier than I thought…"

"Don't you insult Berk like that! You don't know anything about us! Who the heck are you, anyway? Some sort of flying imp? Maybe a skinny frost giant?" This girl certainly was aggressive.

"You know, you could be a little grateful. Maybe you could even say thank you? I kind of just saved your life!"

"Yeah, after you almost killed me!"

"And whose fault was that? I wouldn't have hit you with that blast if you and your beast hadn't been attacking me! What are you doing this far away from Berk, anyway?"

"I don't see why that's any of your business," the girl responded quickly.

"You aren't supposed to be here, are you?" Jack asked, eyebrow raised.

"Of course I am. I've been sent out to scout the neighboring islands," She answered, not meeting his eyes.

"So I can check that with the chief of Berk, then? And he'll agree?"

"NOOO!" She clamped her hands over her mouth, angry at herself for letting that slip. "Please don't tell them I'm out here. I just wanted to see what it was like outside of Berk."

"Hmmm. What's in it for me?" Jack teased, crossing his arms and putting on his best smirk.

"I won't tell them about the whole flying-guy-who-can-shoot-ice-from-a-stick thing, and you don't tell them that you saw me out here?"

"Sounds good to me. Now, I'll accompany you back to Berk if you promise that your Skyfly—"

"Stormfly!"

"Whatever. I will help you get back to Berk if you promise that your dragon won't burn me to bits."

"We have to find him first." As she was saying that, the dragon flew out from where it was hiding behind the tree line, knocking her over and licking her face with his lizard tongue. "Stormfly! I was worried about you!"

_ I'll never understand Vikings, _thought Jack.


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to Berk

**Chapter 2: "Welcome to Berk"**

**Jack Frost is responsible for bringing about winter every year. While bringing winter to Berk, a small Viking village at the edge of the known world, Jack meets a fierce and beautiful girl named Astrid. The village begins to accept Jack as one of their own, until they discover that he's not who they think he is. Jastrid. Slightly OOC. Takes place in the Viking Era.**

_**(A/N) Hey readers! Thanks for checking the story out! Please, leave reviews to tell us what you think! Even the shortest reviews are helpful. :) Happy Reading!**_

Soaring through the air was a dragon with a young woman riding on its back, something not unusual around Berk. What was unusual was the young man with a staff that flew beside the beast. The girl looked over at the boy flying next to her with distrust in her eyes, but also with curiosity.

"How do you do that?" the girl asked. Really she demanded, but Jack would like to think that she asked.

"And why should I tell you? We already have an agreement. I owe you nothing." He flashed her a toothy grin, to which she responded with a scowl. "Besides I honestly couldn't teach you even if I wanted too." Jack gave a snicker, but was quick to dive out of the way as she steered Stormfly to the side in attempt to knock Jack out of the sky.

"Whoops," the blonde spoke with a smirk. Jack just glared and stuck his tongue out at her.

They flew in silence for a while, shooting each other the occasional glare. Jack could be quiet, sure, no problem. But only for so long. As they continued to not talk, his boredom meter hit its max.

"So, my name is Jack, Jack Frost… "The girl looked at him and only nodded her head, to show she heard him. Jack waited a bit and she said nothing. "So what's your name?"

She didn't answer.

"Or do you not know? Do you have no name? Don't worry No-Name, I can name you! How about Grumpy? No? What about Jerk? Meany? Blondie? Steve?"

He was about to give up on his meager attempts at being funny, when she gave a hint of a smile.

"I'm Astrid Hofferson," she spoke softly, seeming annoyed.

"Well, I can't say that I'm glad to meet you, Astrid," he teased.

"Believe me, the feeling's mutual."

"What did I do to make you automatically hate me?" he inquired, feigning hurt feelings.

"You're a stranger. I don't trust strangers. And not only are you a stranger, but you are a flying, ice-shooting stranger. That doesn't exactly fall under the top of my 'I trust you' list." Jack laughed, he couldn't agree more!

"Well a girl riding a fire-breathing dragon that can kill me easily isn't even close to being on my 'I trust you' list." Jack gave a cheeky grin and Astrid simply rolled her eyes. "So why do even ride those things? Last winter, the people in Berk were terrified of them!"

"They aren't as bad as we thought. They were only destroying our village so they could feed a giant mother-dragon. But we killed her and we figured out how to train them, and now they don't steal our sheep anymore." This was the most Jack had heard her say all day. She must have really liked dragons.

"They're still freaky." That comment caused Stormfly to spit a little ball of flame at him.

"Do you mind controlling your creature?"

"He's not a creature, he's a dragon. Show some respect and maybe he wouldn't try to singe you," she huffed.

"You still don't like me, do you?"

"Not in the slightest."

They rode on in silence for another hour.

"Sure is getting dark, isn't it?" Jack pointed out, wiping the sweat off his brow. Getting singed by that beast a few times had made it difficult to fly.

"What's wrong, working too hard?" she scoffed, putting her nose in the air.

"No, I'm fantastic, thank you." While saying this, he fell a few meters. "Just fine."

"Jack, you've been flying for a long time. I'm sure that it gets tiring, though I'm still not sure how you do it. Come ride on Stormfly for awhile."

"I thought you don't like me?" He gave his best half-grin.

"I don't. But I'm not cruel. You didn't let me fall to my death, so I won't let you fall to yours. But don't get any big ideas, frosty. Stay on your side of the dragon."

"No. I'm fine. I don't need your charity."

Jack kept flying, but he kept getting dizzier and dizzier. When was the last time he ate? Everything was blurry around the edges, and he was having trouble staying upright. Suddenly, he lost control of his flight and started freefalling, unable to stop himself. Astrid noticed and steered Stormfly down to catch him on the dragon's back. They drifted down the remaining few meters to the ground and landed lightly.

"It's alright Jack, we've made it. Welcome to Berk."


	3. Chapter 3: The Skinny Boy

**Chapter 3: The Skinny Boy**

**Jack Frost is responsible for bringing about winter every year. While bringing winter to Berk, a small Viking village at the edge of the known world, Jack meets a fierce and beautiful girl named Astrid. The village begins to accept Jack as one of their own, until they discover that he's not who they think he is. Jastrid. Slightly OOC. Takes place in the Viking Era.**

**(A/N) A reader asked the question, "How can the villagers see him if they don't know who he is?" Well do not fret! We had already thought about this issue, and it will come into play soon. You'll see ;) Also, I know We said this last chapter, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave reviews! We've had plenty of views, but only two reviews. Your reviews help us know what you want in the story, what we could make better. We might have to be "THAT author" who threatens to not write another chapter until we get a number of reviews. So don't be shy ;) Anyway, Enjoy!**

* * *

"Who is he?"

"Where'd he come from?"

"What's up with his hair?!"

Jack could hear the telltale sounds of Vikings all around him, made obvious by the clanging armor, the hearty laughter, the booming voices, and of course the unmistakable Norse accent. He opened his eyes and saw this he was in a slightly long one-room building with beds lining the walls. If you could call them beds. They were more like palates of cloths, but they were certainly comfortable. In front of him was a huge boulder of a man, clearly the chief.

"Where did you say you found him?"

"He washed up on the beach," a familiar voice answered. Jack turned toward the sound of the voice and saw Astrid talking to a skinny fellow with brown hair and a fake left foot.

_ So that's the story we're going with, _Jack noted.

"He's awake!" The chief shouted, and the room was suddenly full of people.

_ How can these people see me? _He wondered to himself.

"What's your name, son?" The huge Viking asked him.

"Jack, Jack Frost," He answered, feigning timidity.

"I'm Stoick. I'm in charge of this clan, the _Hairy Hooligans_. Now where are you from, boy? You surely aren't from around here!"

Jack looked over at Astrid, who was shaking her head at him from behind the skinny boy.

"I-I don't remember," he lied. Astrid nodded her head in approval.

"He looks pale. Maybe he need to eat something?" a beefy teenager suggested. He then looked at Astrid, as if to see if she noticed how "nurturing" he was. She just looked annoyed. This interaction made Jack curious.

"I'm always pale, can't you tell by the white hair?"

"Maybe he's a frost giant!" the fake-footed guy by Astrid suggested. Everybody around them seized up a bit. This idea seemed to make them very uncomfortable.

"Hiccup, don't be rude! He's just a lost, hungry boy," Stoick reprimanded. "Why don't you go get something for him to eat?"

The boy named Hiccup resentfully left the building, after a quick glance in Astrid's direction.

"Don't mind my son. He's been acting really strange lately. Must be his adolescence kicking in. You know how that can be," Stoick chuckled to himself.

"I think I'll go with him. Y'know, to make sure he doesn't poison the food or anything," Astrid suggested. There was something strange in her eyes, but Jack couldn't tell exactly what it was. Deception? Excitement? Whatever it was, Jack was sure that she wasn't just going to check on the food.

* * *

"Hiccup, wait!" Astrid shouted, running towards him. He stopped and she caught up, hardly out of breath despite the sprint.

"What is it Astrid? I'm busy getting food for your little white-haired boyfriend," Hiccup sneered.

"Hiccup, what's the matter with you? You of all people should know that I'm not into that boy. I don't even know him! He showed up on the shore, and I saved him. Anybody would have done it. Why are you so touchy about it?"

"There's just something about him. He makes me uncomfortable. I don't like him being around you. I don't want him to hurt you." Hiccup spoke the last part softly, pushing a strand of hair out of her face.

"Hiccup, I-" Astrid was cut short when Hiccup leaned in and brushed a soft kiss against her lips, lingering there for only a second. He stayed there with his forehead against hers, smiling

"I couldn't stand it if I lost you, Astrid."

Astrid smiled at this. She couldn't stay mad at him, even if he had been acting strangely. She pulled him closer and kissed him, parting her lips to deepen the kiss. One of his hands twisted itself in her hair, and the other wrapped around her waist, making it to where the was no more space left between them. He leaned into her, pressing her against the closest wall. The kiss was passionate, yet gentle at the same time.

Once they were both breathing heavily, Astrid pulled away slightly and whispered breathlessly into his lips, "We should probably go get that food now."


	4. Chapter 4: I Hope You Like Fish

**Jack Frost is responsible for bringing about winter every year. While bringing winter to Berk, a small Viking village at the edge of the known world, Jack meets a fierce and beautiful girl named Astrid. The village begins to accept Jack as one of their own, until they discover that he's not who they think he is. Jastrid. Slightly OOC.**

_**A/N Hey readers! We're so so so sorry about the wait! Finals week has kept us super busy! But hopefully we can start updating more regularly now. And PLEASE REVIEW! Thank you to Kacee B. Jacobs and The Blue Monster Cake for the reviews! But we would really appreciate some more! We don't know how to make the story better if you don't tell us what to fix! But with that said, happy reading ;)**_

* * *

"I hope you like fish, because that's what we've got!" Hiccup announces, moving aside the entrance flap into the infirmary room. Hiccup and Astrid stopped short when they saw everyone staring at them, hardly even blinking.

Stoick was the first to talk. "Hiccup, we sent you an hour ago. Did you have to catch and gut the fish yourself?"

"Yes, actually. The kitchens were all out," Hiccup replied not-so-convincingly.

"Hiccup, we all know that you can't fish. So what really happened?"

"Well-"

"It was my fault!" Astrid cut in. "I was trying to get some fish and I fell down that cliff on the Eastern beach. He patched me up. That's why it took so long." As she said this, she pointed to the minor wounds that Jack knew she had sustained during their mid-air tussle. He also noticed some fresh scrapes on the back of her shoulders that weren't there before.

_ Why is she lying?_

"Astrid, you know not to go around there. You could've been seriously hurt! There are much safer places to fish." This was spoken by a blonde woman standing near Stoick. She looked like she might have been Astrid's mom.

"Well that place was closer. And the best fish swim there. We wouldn't want anything less than the best for our guest, now would we?" She added, sneaking a smirk toward Jack.

"Aw there was no need to go through all that trouble for me! " Jack had a smirk of his own. "But if you're fine and had some fun while you were at it, then no major harm done, right?" he said with a wink to Astrid, whose eyes widened ever so slightly.

Astrid wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she just handed him his fish and retreated to the back of the room.

"Do you think I could have some time to rest?" Jack asked with a convincing smile.

"Of course! Everyone out," Stoick declared, shepherding the Vikings out of the room.

* * *

"Need some water?" He heard Astrid ask as she traipsed into the hut. Jack heard the cup of water shatter on the floor and smirked to himself.

"What's the matter, Princess?"

"W-what did you do to the room?" She stuttered, losing her confidant air for just one second.

"Oh, you mean this? I just redecorated it a bit. I can change it back if you don't like it."

He had turned the entire room into a miniature ice castle. Jack was sitting upon an ice throne on top of an ice turret in the middle of the room, with a frozen crown on his head, holding his staff in his hand. As he spoke, it slowly melted away, and he slid swiftly down until he was right in front of Astrid, a little too close for her comfort.

"How did you do that?" She asked, looking at him suspiciously. "Hiccup was right, you ARE a frost giant!"

"A frost giant? What are those?"

"Many Vikings believe that our horribly long winters are caused by frost giants. They are evil creatures who used to terrorize Norse villages. The stories that our elders tell us say that all of the frost giants were destroyed, but there have been rumors that one still lives. Some people have seen him flying through the forests, freezing everything, once as early as August. I had never seen him before, but he was said to disguise himself in the shape of a skinny boy with white hair."

"I am NOT skinny! I'm quite toned, thank you!"

"So it IS you! I should kill you right here!" Astrid pulled her smallish battle-axe out from seemingly nowhere, raising it up above her head. It froze in her hands, and it became too heavy for her to hold up.

"Chill, lady. I'm not a frost giant. Or at least, I'm pretty sure I'm not. I'm a Guardian. Jack Frost. I create winter. I used to be a normal boy like your little brown-haired friend, but…I was changed into a winter spirit. Now I bring winter to everyone, and I'm the Guardian of Fun. You're welcome," Jack bowed while saying that last part.

"But it just makes sense. Jokul Frosti is the name of the frost giant responsible for bringing winter, especially nasty freezing ones. Maybe it's the same person, two different names. How long have you been…working?"

"I've been doing this for longer than you could imagine. But I guess it would make sense…That's why you Vikings can see me. People can only see me if they believe in me. And trust me, nobody believes in Jack Frost anymore. No human has even looked at me for decades. Believe it or not, you were the first real human I've talked to in three centuries. I guess you guys can see me because you believe in me, you just don't know that it's me that you're looking at, y'know?"

Astrid just kind of stared at him. "I'm sorry, was that supposed to make sense? Because it didn't."

"Nah, I wouldn't worry about it. But you were right; I'm kind of a frost giant. But you can't tell the others. They would kill me on the spot. And we wouldn't want this pretty face going to waste, now would we?" he smiled wryly.

"I won't tell them, as long as you promise not to freeze anything else," Astrid replied uneasily.

"Awh, what's the fun of that? Freezing things is what I do!" As he said this, he formed an ice rose from nowhere and handed it to her.

Astrid threw it on the ground. "I said stop doing that!"

"Hey, I worked hard on that! You don't own the air. How about I don't freeze anything that belongs to the Vikings, without your permission?" He said this using his most charming smile.

"Oh, fine. Just behave yourself."

"Speaking of behaving yourself, why are you keeping your relationship with Hiccup a secret?"

"How did you figure it out?"

"I asked you first."

"Fine. It's a secret because my parents don't like him. Our tribe is on shaky terms with the Meathead Tribe on the next island over, so they've decided that I will marry the son of their chief. He's really gross and smells bad, and his teeth are horrible. I don't want to marry him. I love Hiccup. But nobody can know. So please don't tell. We were careless today, we almost got caught. But how did you figure it out so soon?"

"Well, you seem to like standing by him. You disappeared right after he left to get me food, it took you an hour to come back from the kitchen and then you lied about it. And you have new scrapes on the back of your shoulders. I'm assuming he had you up against a rock wall." Jack smirked proudly after seeing the shock, and slight horror, on her face.

For once, Astrid Hofferson had nothing to say.


End file.
